Voices of Youth, Voices of Community
a short documentary that captures stories, poems, and songs from Mosaic's cutting edge Voices of Youth and Koures Symposium projects

Press the play button above to start the film.

Voices of Youth and the Koures Symposium are a series of projects that involve diverse youth in a variety of communities. Through the Voices process, youth become engaged in the creation of an artistic forum for their own expression while developing mentoring relationships within their communities. Themes of contemporary disorientation find unique expression through the writings and voices of local youth, offering insights into the root causes of youth violence, cynicism, and apathy. A narrative mix of old stories and youthful voices is then presented to the local community in an event that is part theater, part literature, and part celebration.

Hearing the acute perspectives of youth can significantly change the communitys perception of both local and national issues and inspire continuing conversations across the generation gap. Voices of Youth inspires and empowers local youth, fosters ongoing cross-generational dialogues and leads to the development of unique local forms of mentoring.
Read poems from recent Voices events
Make a donation

A Poetics of Peace
The World Behind The World
Living at the Ends of Time

with author and mythologist
Michael Meade

~ Donation Suggested ~ Everyone Welcome ~

Proceeds support Voices of Youth and Intercultural Projects

Seattle, WA ~ Thursday, Sept 11 ~ 7:30 pm
The Elliott Bay Book Company
101 South Main Street, Seattle, Washington 98104

Los Angeles, CA ~ Friday, Sept 19 ~ 7:00 pm
Mt. Saint Mary's College Theater ~ Chalon Campus
12001 Chalon Road, Los Angeles CA 90049

Corte Madera, CA ~ Wednesday, Oct 22 ~ 7:00 pm
Book Passage Bookstore
51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925
For more information visit the Book Passage Bookstore

Petaluma, CA ~ Friday, Oct 24 ~ 7:00 pm
Insitute of Imaginal Studies ~ IIS Downtown Campus
47 Sixth Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
For more information visit The Imaginal Institute

When "the End" seems near, how people imagine the world becomes more important; how people imagine humanity becomes of the utmost importance. The world cannot end unless it runs out of stories; for more than a literal place, the world is an eternal drama, a story told from beginning to end, again and again.

In this dynamic evening, mythologist Michael Meade shows that when all sense is lost and all seems headed for destruction, it is "mythic sense" that is missing and mythic imagination that is most needed. Not a particular myth, but sustaining stories and "earthly wisdom" that reunite culture with great Nature and renew connections to the living Soul of the World and the Tree of Life at the center of all spiritual paths.

As nature rattles and culture unravels, mythic imagination tries to return through two great stories: the endless drama of this world and the initiatory story within each human soul that tries to awaken to meaning and purpose during times of trouble and uncertainty.

Join us for an evening of re-creation stories, a tapestry of poems, mythic tales and cogent commentary that offer surprising insights and a mythological view of critical issues affecting the world at this time.

Inner Life, Outer Work
Following Spirit, Making Soul

An intensive workshop with storyteller & mythologist Michael Meade

Saturday, September 20 ~ 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Jose Drudis-Biada Art Gallery
12001 Chalon Rd, Los Angeles, CA

The increasing unrest throughout the world reflects a loss of soul within human cultures. Meanwhile, important aspects of the inner life awaken during just such turmoil. The exact medicines for healing the threats and volatile divisions so characteristic of modern life must be found within the hidden unity of human imagination.

Despite the chaos of the times, the soul still longs for a life fully lived and for work that serves something beyond oneself. For an awakened soul seeks both inner meaning and meaningful outer work. The story written on the soul is intended to be lived out as a mythic experiment in life. This includes twists of fate and hints of destiny that we neglect at our own peril. Through imaginative detours we continually rediscover those images before which our hearts first opened.

More Information
Register for the event

Voices of Youth
Poetry from the Edge
Join local "at-risk" and "homeless" youth, along with author and mythologist Michael Meade

Friday September 26th ~ 7 pm
The Black Box Theater
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts
512 Washington Street, Olympia, WA

~ Donation Suggested ~ Everyone Welcome ~
Proceeds Support Work with At-Risk Youth
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A culture that rejects the spirit of its youth will come to lack spirit and imagination when faced with life's inevitable challenges.
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You are invited to a special evening in which local "at-risk" and "homeless" youth express their experience of living in these troubled times. Voices of Youth brings young people together through intense workshops to craft an artful expression of their inner dreams and outer concerns. On this night, the community gathers to witness, to discuss, and to bless the aspirations, struggles, and efforts of its young people. In this approach, youth are not simply "the problem;" rather, their lives are a reflection of serious issues troubling the culture at large. When viewed this way, youth can be seen as valuable agents of change who play a necessary part in cultural awakening, healing, and transformation. Amidst multiple threats and increasing fears, all are invited to witness the expression of youth and hear the voice of the soul seeking to make community again.

Sponsored by Community Youth Services and
Mosaic Multicultural Foundation

Make a donation

"Mythic imagination is a primordial resource of the human heart that combines heart-felt intelligence with a reverence for life in its myriad forms. When times become tragic and dark with uncertainty, what is missing is the touch of eternity and a mythic sense of being woven within the ongoing story of the world."
from The Water of Life
by Michael Meade

Dear Friends,

For many years Mosaic has collaborated with diverse groups to bring out the voices of those most disenfranchised, marginalized, and misunderstood in contemporary cultures. Under the title Voices of Youth, Voices of Community, this long series of cutting-edge events has included countless "at-risk" and homeless youth, young refugees from Sudan, Native American youth and elders, high school and college students. The Voices events continue to work at the street level and in "at-risk" communities as do the companion mentor trainings and collaborations that now involve over fifty diverse community building organizations.

The knowledge and practices developed from years of working with youth and mentors in "at-risk" communities were recently adapted to form two additional projects: the Koures Symposium and Voices of Veterans. The Koures Symposium offered "at-risk" youth and young mentors an intensive learning experience in a retreat setting amidst nature, and far from the threats and confusions of daily life. Focused study, in-depth writing, artful practices, and mentor trainings culminated in a profound public presentation and celebration. The initial event in February forged new friendships amidst diverse participants, generated valuable learning experiences, and created enduring mentoring relationships that continue to deepen and expand the lives of the mentors as well as the youth.

An appreciative and engaged audience became the temporary community needed to witness, encourage, and bless the songs, poems, and dances of the participants. Please visit the Mosaic website, www.mosaicvoices.org, to view and listen to a short documentary that captures stories, poems, and songs from Mosaic's cutting edge Voices of Youth and Koures Symposium projects.

In addition, Voices of Youth, Voices of Community provided the foundation for ground-breaking work with war veterans helping shape and carry the important and revelatory stories of those returning from war. Voices of Vets began as a collaboration with The Welcome Home Project and led to a stunning and deeply moving presentation of stories and poems erupting from the open hearts and unhealed wounds of a group of veterans as well as their spouses and parents.
Voices of Vets featured soldiers returning from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who joined with Vietnam era veterans to present a courageous and inspired expression of the "inner voices of war" and their struggles to survive. The event helped them make sense of their war experiences and find genuine healing. The result was a speaking up from the depths of human suffering and a speaking out from beyond the usual politics and policies connected to war--an outpouring of the uniquely personal and painfully indelible experiences of war as well as the efforts and struggles required to find a way home again.

A large and compassionate audience gathered at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon on Memorial Day and served as a welcoming community able and willing to receive and bless those who served on distant battlefields. Voices of Vets also inspired new ways of seeing and shaping mentoring practices that reach across generations of war veterans to help heal and deal with re-entry issues, troubling memories, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders.

Mosaic is currently planning the next Koures Symposium as well as continuing Voices of Youth projects involving "at-risk" and homeless youth. We are planning a series of Voices of Vets events and doing related studies and further documentation of the healing and mentoring elements we experienced. We value your interest in cultural change and need your support and donations to better develop and sustain these unique and valuable projects. Any support you can offer will be deeply appreciated and used to further the goals of individual and community healing.

Peace and blessings,

Michael J Meade
Founder / Director Mosaic Multicultural Foundation
Make a donation

Donate to Mosaic

Available now. Order the Voices of Vets book

Voices of Vets
A Ceremony for Veterans

September 6th, 2008 ~ 7 PM
First Congregational
United Church
1126 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR
~ Donation Suggested ~
~ Everyone Welcome ~

"I walked up my ramp alone - to a reception of none...
no welcome home party, because like so many others
I'm not home.

Expose emotional silence, so your wounds
can finally be healed.
Give yourself that precious gift.
Let the self-inflicted guilt die, instead of you."
Excerpt from a
veterans' poems.

Mosaic wishes to announce an evening of stories and original poems from veterans of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam and their family members.

This gathering will bring together veterans and the community in an attempt to heal the distance between the warriors and those they protect and bridge the gaps between war and peace, trauma and renewal, pain and understanding. This conversation requires courage and is too-often avoided. It begins with tragedy and loss, the aftermath of any war, and requires the language of poetry, theater, and art as well as the dignity of ceremony.

Join author Michael Meade, veterans, and their families for an evening of poetry, stories, and cogent commentary on the realities of war and the difficulties found upon return.
Help celebrate the release of the new book of veterans' poems: Voices of Vets, A Bridge Back to the World.

Healing only happens where and when the burdens of war can be shared by the greater community. A public gathering allows citizens to become compassionate witnesses to the stories of war and the need for conscious and genuine acts of witnessing and welcoming. As one of the veterans put it in a poem: "Can we create a village as strong as a war?"

Make a Donation
Read poems from participating veterans
Order the Voices of Vets book

Voices of Veterans
A Memorial Day
Ceremony for Veterans
May 26th, 2008 ~ Angus Bowmer Theatre, Ashland, OR

Read a recent article about the Memorial Day event from the Ashland Tidings newspaper:
"Veterans Share Experiences"

Mosaic wishes to announce a community centered welcome home program for veterans of foreign wars and their family members, in particular those from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A public Memorial Day Ceremony will bring together veterans and the community in an attempt to heal the distance between the warriors and those they protect and bridge the gaps between war and peace, trauma and renewal, pain and understanding. This conversation requires courage and is too-often avoided. It begins with tragedy and loss, the aftermath of any war, and requires the language of poetry, theater, and art as well as the dignity of ceremony.

A retreat prior to the ceremony will involve both men and women soldiers, and will focus on creating a "community of veterans," encouraging their expression and healing through storytelling, writing, and meditation. Families of soldiers are encouraged to attend. This preparatory part will be primarily facilitated by Michael Meade, a Vietnam era veteran, noted mythologist, author, and story-teller, along with veterans from other wars and experts in the field of trauma recovery.
Sponsored by The Welcome Home Project and Mosaic Multicultural Foundation
Make a donation
More information
Read poems from participating veterans

Voices of Youth
Voices of Youth is a series of projects that involve diverse youth in a variety of communities. Through Voices, youth are engaged in the creation of an artistic forum for their own expression while developing mentoring relationships within their community.

Themes of contemporary disorientation find unique expression through the writings and voices of local youth, offering insights into the root causes of youth violence, cynicism and apathy. A narrative mix of old stories and youthful voices is then presented to the local community in an event that is part theater, part literature and part celebration.

Each presentation is followed by a discussion that includes families, teachers, community members and youth. Hearing the acute perspectives of youth can significantly change the community's perception of both local and national issues and inspire continuing conversations across the generation gap.

Voices of Youth inspires and empowers local youth, fosters ongoing cross-generational dialogues and leads to the development of unique local forms of mentoring.

Creative Mentoring
Rites of Passage
"Initiation introduces a 'second mother' in the form of Nature itself, with its great powers and inherent beauty, and reveals hidden aspects of one's inner nature as well. Where mother was once the 'natural' source of comfort, Nature becomes the source of all medicines, the natural pharmacopoeia that secretly holds an antidote for each poison in the world. Initiatory exposure to the forces of nature helps to draw out innate qualities formerly hidden in the individual soul."
from The Water of Life by Michael Meade

Whereas rites of passage used to provide occasions for generations to connect, modern cultures generate gaps instead. Generation gaps, gender gaps, even leadership gaps become more pronounced because events intended to open the hearts and minds of people go unexamined and unmarked.
Read more

AVAILABLE NOW. ORDER A COPY TODAY.

The World Behind the World
Living at the Ends of Time
THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK FROM
MICHAEL MEADE

Michael Meade is one of the few people who provides a mythological view of critical issues affecting the world at this time. In The World Behind the World, Meade weaves a tapestry of mythic tales and cogent commentary that truly inspires and offers a "mythic inoculation" in times of great uncertainty. As nature rattles and culture unravels, mythic imagination tries to return to the world, for endings and beginnings are particularly mythic. When "the End" seems near, how people imagine the world becomes more important; how people imagine humanity becomes of the utmost importance. Meade shows how "myth makes meaning" and helps a person find the meaningful path through life. He mines a series of "re-creation" stories in which the earth renews itself just when all seems lost. When it appears that there's no time left, it isn't time that people need, but the touch of the eternal.

While explaining how culture renews itself from the dreams of youth and the visions of elders, Meade introduces the concept of becoming ancient again by connecting to the eternal youth and the old soul within. At one level, The World Behind the World is a guide for living at the ends of time. At another level, it's an introduction to "living myth" and it involves a re-imagination of culture at all levels.

"Michael Meade is a master-storyteller and story-teacher of the soul's unfolding. He addresses the mess we're in and helps us each discover the unique threads, the poetic DNA we must live out. As interpreter and mythic guide, he is the best there is."
     ~ Coleman Barks ~ Rumi: Bridge to the Soul

"As a teacher and mythologist, Michael Meade is genius let out of the bottle. The World Behind the World is his strong medicine for hard times, an elixir of amazing stories, rich ideas, heart-breaking truth, and brilliant seeds of wisdom for remaking the world."
      ~ Jack Kornfield ~ The Wise Heart

"A master-storyteller reminds us that the world is an endless tapestry of wonder and woe that is constantly being 're-storied' on the loom of imagination, and replanted in the seeds of memory. Michael Meade re-enchants us back into the The World Behind the World where all the mysteries co-exist. Undeniably, a relevant, brilliant and original book!"
      ~ Angeles Arrien ~ The Second Half of Life

OrderThe World Behind the World
Read an excerpt

*NEW FROM MOSAIC AUDIO*
The Ends of Time, the Roots
of Eternity
Tales of Myth,
Nature, & Culture
with author, mythologist and storyteller
Michael Meade

The modern world suffers from "double exposure" as culture and nature, the "two great garments of life," seem to unravel at the same time. Culture no longer protects against growing threats of global terror and societal greed, while Nature becomes increasingly endangered through holes in the ozone and the effects of global warming.

Science and religion seem to arrive at similar conclusions as statistics and scriptures each predict the "end of the world." Is it the end of all time or a time of many endings seeking the vital ground of renewal?

In this dynamic recording mythologist Michael Meade shows that when all sense is lost and all seems headed for destruction, it is "mythic sense" that is missing and mythic imagination that is needed. Not a particular myth, but stories and "earthly wisdom" that reunite culture with great Nature where the pattern of birth, death, and renewal prevails. Rather than the literal call for people to "save the planet," Meade suggests the issue is finding the lost connections to the living Soul of the World and the Tree of Life at the center of all spiritual paths.

Mosaic Audio
Three Compact Discs

Listen to an excerpt about the "Double Exposure" of nature and culture from The Ends of Time, the Roots of Eternity:

Listen to Michael Meade tell the story of Icanchu's Drum, a re-creation story in which the world suffers dissolution and renews from the ashes of the tree of life, also called The Medicine Tree. Following an old idea we find that each person carries medicine in their heart and can contribute to the renewal of nature and re-imagination of culture.

Purchase from Mosaic's Online Store

Listen to a related interview with Michael Meade from New Dimensions Radio:

The Water of Life
Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul
NEW AND REVISED EDITION

with author, mythologist and storyteller
Michael Meade

Mosaic is delighted to announce a new edition of The Water of Life, a re-visioning and refining of an already classic text.

Starting with a new preface that describes the dual nightmare of global terror and global warming, Meade addresses the connection between meaning and purpose in personal life and returning culture to its mythic context.

At once a mythic journey, a study in depth psychology, and a treatise on initiation The Water of Life addresses the roots of conflict, the recurring hunger for war and the issues of "reducing the warrior." Throughout the text the water of life functions as the core symbol for both personal and cultural renewal, and redemption of the spiritual wasteland.

Using ideas gleaned from many years working with youth and communities at-risk Meade's writing rings with the echoes of truth and "sings with an incantational voice that takes you right to the edge of elemental knowledge."

"Meade writes quite brilliantly about initiation, ordeal and the importance of scars and wounds. He is a master of the mode" - New York Times Book Review

"Meade insists on grounding the high-flying abstractions of myth in the 'bones-laid-bare' realities of the street." - San Francisco Chronicle

Major Themes Include: Initiation and the nobility of the soul "The awakening of youth and the making of elders "The Firebird and the impassioned heart "The sword between fathers and sons "Mother and Great Mother "Mentors and mythical helpers "Breaking the family spells "Gifts and wounds
Purchase from Mosaic's Online Store

Holding the
Thread of Life
A Human Response to the Unraveling of the World

with author, mythologist and storyteller
Michael Meade

Coining the term "Slow Apocalypse," Meade describes contemporary life as a complex of radical endings and potential renewals. At root, apocalypse means "to reveal" or "to lift the veil," and Meade boldly looks behind the scenes, through the smoke screens, and lifts the veils of modern culture to reveal that elements of purpose and meaning are also trying to break into awareness. Drawing a relationship between fear and beauty, Meade shows how the world-wide loss of meaning and authenticity underlies the growth of fear and terror. Even as greater global dangers become "uncovered," ancient and forgotten knowledge waits to be re-discovered.

From the Native American myth The Old Woman Who Weaves the World comes the idea that the "right trouble" is an antidote to perfectionism, and a "necessary chaos" that precedes the renewal of the world. In the story of Eisik's Dream the notion of the Three Kinds of People explains the increasing importance of following one's dream and awakening to the purpose of one's own life.

Themes include: The Return of Meaning " Radical Effects of Economic Disparity " U.N. Report on: All the Troubles in the World " The Black Dog of Chaos " The Golden Thread of Life " The True Jerusalem " What Makes an Elder

Listeners exclaim: "A gift beyond measure, valuable not only to me personally, but to the world."
"A work of generosity and fierce dancing engagement."
"Challenging and full of surprises that connect breaking news with mythic insights."
Purchase from Mosaic's Online Store

Branches of Mentoring
with author, mythologist and storyteller
Michael Meade

Mentoring involves stories longing to be heard and waiting to be told. For, mentoring offers an essential way in which the story of culture is fashioned, learned, and recreated. The word "mentor" refers to guidance and lived knowledge. Mentor first appears in an old myth guiding youth through inspired ideas and offering skills of survival. Mentoring evokes the genius in a person, develops gifts, and helps heal both personal and cultural wounds.

Using the surprising "Story of the Half-Boy," Meade shows how easily a culture disintegrates into a "Half-Village" that rejects its youth and forgets its elders. The pathway back to making a whole village requires the recovery of dreams deferred, the sharing of "lived wisdom," and a return to the "dance of life."

While mentoring naturally involves the youth of a community, it also becomes the basis for re-imagining meaningful roles for elders. Through Branches of Mentoring people can discover and clarify what they have to offer in the way of teaching, guiding, and mentoring others. This lively presentation directly benefits mentors, teachers, parents, artists, social activists, and all those who work with youth and value community.

Themes Include: Origins of Mentoring; Planting Seeds; Embodied Knowledge; Mentoring as Natural and Instinctive; Dreams Deferred; Genius to Genius Mentoring; Red Fog, White Fog; Authentic Moments

Mosaic Audio
Two Compact Discs
Purchase from Mosaic's Online Store